Picnics in the Sunshine
by Luna Lockser
Summary: When a date doesn't go as planned, Gray has to find a way to cheer up his girlfriend. Gruvia with Gajevy mentioned. Rated T for minor themes.


**Hey Puddins, a sweet Gruvia story that I am not sure where it came to me. Gajevy also makes an appearance, as a tribute to my sister hinalover281. Please Review and Favorite!** **If you know the artist of the cover image, or if its yours, please PM me and I'll be sure to give credit.**

 **Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.**

* * *

"Gray-sama, tomorrow lets have a picnic," the rain woman was currently trying to plan a date for her and her boyfriend. It had been a few months since they had begun dating, and she couldn't have been happier.

"Sure, some peace and quiet might be a good break from dealing with Flamebrain all day," the ice mage responded, chuckling at her excitement in planning the details.

"Juvia will make lots of yummy treats for the date, ooh she is so excited! All Gray-sama has to do is bring a blanket," she started talking so fast in her happiness that Gray was afraid she'd faint. Since they had started dating, she had for the most part stopped getting frantic around him, she had him now so there was no need to get worked up trying to impress him. But there were moments that she would get so happy Gray thought she would explode.

Gray smirked at his blue haired girlfriend, planting a kiss to her head to calm her down. She stopped her ranting and smiled up at him. He wasn't a very touchy feely person, but he was learning to open up to her. She understood his struggle, and appreciated his little successes.

A few hours later Juvia wanted to head home and start preparing everything for their date tomorrow. She knew that making everything she wanted to would take a while. As she said her goodbyes to her iron loving friend and his hazel eyed beloved, Gray escaped from his fight with the pink haired dragon slayer.

Gray looked over at his girlfriend on the walk to Fairy Hills, and instantly her smile was contagious. It always shocked him how easy it was to keep her happy. Not to say she was easy, but it has always fascinated how simply holding her hand made her eyes shine. He couldn't help feel guilty, she was always so open with her affections, but he just couldn't be. Whenever he tried his voice would catch and he would end up looking like a fool. She never seemed to notice, and his goofs always seemed to make her happier than if he would succeed.

Pulling his arm around her, the two kept walking in their silence. Gray was grateful she was so understanding about his strife. He was trying, and he was grateful she had stayed by him. He knew it wasn't easy for her before they started dating. But she kept loving him anyway, and Gray loved her back.

When they arrived to the dorm, she gave him a chaste kiss to the lips before turning around to head upstairs. She called out to him not to forget the blanket and ran inside. As he turned back towards his apartment, he remembered her smile. She was always self conscious about being gloomy, but Gray could only see her as sunshine.

* * *

Juvia woke up the next morning buzzing with excitement. She couldn't wait to spend her day relaxing with Gray. She got up and walked to window, expecting to see bright sunlight. She hadn't been prepared for the dark clouds and rain.

"No, no," she whispered to herself. This couldn't be right, yesterday had been so beautiful. It shouldn't have been raining, she hadn't even been feeling upset last night. It was the exact opposite, she had been so happy.

Her heart broke when she saw the ground, everything was soaked, and it was too muddy to have a picnic. The rain had ruined her plans, again. She felt defeated, she had ruined everything again.

She let the tears run down her face as she turned away from the window. When she saw the picnic basket sitting on her kitchen table, she sobbed harder. She had worked on everything so hard.

Juvia no longer felt like going out. She didn't want to go to the guild and see Gray disappointed. She couldn't face the fact that she had messed today up for them. All she wanted to do was be alone and not make anyone else sad.

Grabbing her basket, she walked outside her door barefoot and went up to the first girl she saw.

"Oh hey Juvia, on your way to the guildhall?" the script mage smiled.

"Hello Levy, Juvia is not feeling well today. She is just going to stay inside today," she tried her best to smile, but the other bluenette clearly didn't believe it.

"No one is gonna blame you for this rain, if that's what you're worried about," Levy assured her, "Besides, just because you two can't go out doesn't mean Gray doesn't want to see you, you should at least go talk to him." The smaller girl smiled her friend.

"Thank you Levy, but Juvia just doesn't feel up to it today, but can you bring these to Gray-sama? It seems a waste if they aren't eaten today," The water mage sighed, lifting the basket up.

"Sure, I'll do my best not to let Erza get to them before I get there, but are you sure you'll be fine alone, I can come back over and maybe we could have a girl day?" Juvia smiled to, who she hoped would be her future sister in law, and insisted she was fine. Levy didn't seem too sure, but didn't push any further.

Juvia sighed as she went back into her room, she crawled under her covers and just prayed the rain would go away soon.

* * *

Gray was getting anxious, he had been waiting for 15 minutes since it was time for his girlfriend to meet him at the guild. She was never late, she made it a point to always be on time, if not early. Immediately after waking up and seeing the rain, he got a bad feeling in his stomach. He knew that Juvia was still insecure about her rain, and he was worried. He had a feeling this wasn't her rain though, which was confirmed by the iron dragon slayer, but Juvia would often feel guilty even if it wasn't her rain.

Right when he was about to panic, Levy caught his attention. Walking up to her, he ignored the slight glare coming to him from Gajeel's direction, he apparently was leaving in a few for a job and didn't appreciate being interrupted with Levy.

"Stripper, clothes," was all the man grunted. He looked down to find he was missing his shirt, he brushed it off, as long as he had pants.

"Hey, have you seen Juvia around today?" he asked, trying to keep his calm demeanor.

"Yeah she said she wasn't up to going out today, but she wanted me to give you this," Gray took the basket from her and opened it up. He shouldn't have been shocked to see it so full. It looked like she had spent hours getting everything ready, he could see a large amount of brownies, cookies, and several types of sandwiches, each was wrapped so carefully.

"She said she didn't want them to go to waste, the rain is really getting to her today," he heard his childhood friend explain. He just stood staring at the basket in his hands. A plan was forming in his mind.

"I need your help."

"With what?"

He quickly described his plan to her, stopping only so she could say goodbye to her boyfriend. When he was finished she agreed to help him, he just needed to run back to his apartment to grab a few items and meet back with her at Fairy Hills.

When he reached his apartment, he grabbed another shirt, and a few movie lacrima. He tucked them into the bag that already had the blanket. Thats when he saw it, a doll he had picked up during a job a few weeks back. He hadn't known what drew him to it, and he had to buy it in secret to avoid the hell Natsu and Happy would give him. Looking at it again, he realized it reminded him of Juvia, not like those teru-teru dolls she used to make, but something else. It was stitched together, but somehow its eyes looked like glass. They were blue, and so was its dress. He didn't know why, but he thought Juvia would like it, so he threw it in the bag.

Grabbing the bag and basket, he headed back to Fairy Hills. He hoped Levy had a good way of getting him in, his plan was shot if Erza caught him and killed him. He knew Levy wouldn't even get in trouble, that girl knew Erza had a soft spot for her, hell everyone did.

When he arrived, the petite girl quickly grabbed him and pulled him to the back. She lead him to the back of the building, to a closed off staircase.

"This used to be an old fire escape," she explained, "Normally when they open, an alarm is supposed to sound, but I put a _SILENT_ on so it doesn't work."

"And if there is a fire?"

"Lucy doesn't have a dorm here so we don't sneak in Natsu, plus Juvia has the sprinklers pumped with enough water to put out anything," Levy laughed, "Besides, these are old, if there ever was a fire we would use the ones closer to the rooms."

"And whose idea was it to use these to sneak in boys?"

"Juvia's actually, she helps me sneak in Gajeel all the time, this is repayment."

Gray couldn't respond to that. It was almost funny thinking about the giant dragon slayer trying to sneak around. And his fear every time he would turn a corner hoping not to see another girl. Though he did not want to think about what could be going on in the dorm. Gray didn't have too much time to his thoughts, before he found himself on the top of the stairs. Levy lead him through the halls, him trying not fall too behind. His life flashed before his eyes when he found out they had to pass Erza's room. He died when he found out it was _rooms_ instead. What the hell? Five rooms, he had to try to pass five rooms in five seconds. Mavis help him.

"Alright this is her door," The book lover directed him.

"Thanks, I owe you," As she went down the hall, he heard something about a new book. Gray knocked twice before he heard a response. Feet shuffled then a click, and next thing he knew he was looking at his girlfriend.

Her hair was messily pulled back, and she was wearing an oversized shirt with sleeves that went past her hands. He noticed she wasn't wearing pants, and the shirt left her guild mark visible. If it wasn't for the obvious tear stains on her cheeks or the way her blue eyes were red and puffy, he would have lost himself in how hot she looked. But for her sake, he kept his hormones in check.

"Gray-sama, what are you doing here?" the water mage asked quickly, realizing her boyfriend was in the girls' dorm. She rushed him inside and locked the door behind her.

"How did Gray-sama get inside the dorm?" she asked, wiping her tears with the sleeve of her shirt, she didn't want him to know how much she'd been crying.

"Same way Gajeel apparently gets in."

"Oh," Juvia shifted awkwardly, she wasn't expecting her love to show up. She smiled her hardest to try and show him that she was fine. His concerned gaze told her she wasn't being very convincing.

"I thought that since its too wet outside for a standard picnic in the park, we could have an indoor one instead," the ice mage smiled, holding up the basket, "I figured it would be nice to kick back and watch a few movies."

Juvia teared as she looked at her boyfriend holding the bags. It wasn't a big thing, but she couldn't help the emotions. Gray had just risked his neck breaking into the dorm, all so he could cheer her up. He really did know her, and really did care.

Gray held her as she let out the rest of her tears, keeping her close and telling her it was fine. He whispered his love, telling her he wasn't going anywhere. When she was finished, and her breathing evened out, he gave her one last hug and went to set up the movie while she pulled out plates and set out the snacks from the picnic.

When they were done setting things up, Gray sat on her bed and motioned for her to lay next to him. He didn't object when she cuddled up into him, and they both began absentmindedly eating their sandwiches as the movie began to play.

Hours later, the couple had seen The Wizard of Oz(Juvia's favorite movie, she loved the colors and the songs), Rise of the Guardians(Gray commenting how his ice magic was better and how Jack wouldn't stand a chance in a fight), 50 First Dates(Gray almost fell off the bed laughing and Juvia enjoyed the love story), and had eaten the entire basket.

It was getting late, and he could feel Juvia drifting off. Suddenly he remembered the doll sitting in the bag.

"Oh, I've got something for you," he moved out of bed quickly, and Juvia groaned at the disruption. While he got up she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"Here," he handed her the doll. She gasped as she grabbed it, gently running her fingers over its China blue eyes and sewn blue hair. She smiled and pressed it to her chest.

"Thank you, Juvia loves it," she whispered quietly as she kissed him on the cheek.

"Your welcome," he whispered, pulling her back to him as the two tucked in for the night. In the morning, he would have to sneak out of the dorm. But he could deal with that later, for now, he was just happy that his girlfriend had sunshine back in her eyes.


End file.
